Our Lady of Guadalupe

Pictures taken by Joey Powell

This statue is a replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that appears on the Tilma of Juan Diego that is on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico. The construction consists of a skeleton of three quarter inch fusion bonded epoxy coated rebar steel bent into shapes and welded to form the large work. The work was done in sections in a workshop with each section being stacked on the previous section for alignment. The sections were covered with metal lath to act as a base for the cement application and then stacked to the fifty foot height, bolted and welded in place. The cement was sprayed on with a concrete gun and hand troweled to form the detail. The face of the Virgin and the angel's faces were cast and bolted in place along with the hands of the Virgin and the hands of the angel. These pieces were painted after installation. The cement was allowed to cure for one year and then about four hundred thousand ceramic tile were attached and grouted in place. Stainless steel sun rays were manufactured and installed on the rear of the sculpture with a buffed texture to capture light. The weight of the sections is passed to steel pipe that extend from the base to the top of the inside of the statue. A ladder and a series of platforms are part of the internal construction to allow for inspection and maintenance of the statue. The base of the statue is four two foot diameter holes drilled to twenty-one feet, added rebar cages and then filled with ten yard of concrete. The pour was stopped two feet below grade and a fourteen by fourteen foot hole was excavated on top of the poured posts and the posts rebar was tied into two rebar mats covering the hole. A ten thousand pound steel plate two inches thick containing twenty-four eighteen inch long, inch and a half diameter J bolts, was placed on four embedded jacks and leveled, then twenty yards of concrete was poured to tie the base to the poured posts. The bottom section of the statue is welded to the steel base plate.

Next to the sculpture there is a pond that is encircled by poles with white spheres on top. The spheres are interlocked by a series of chains and end at a crucifix to look like a rosary.